BRUNSWICK

The town of Brunswick may use tax increment financing to pay for a new road connecting Admiral Fitch Avenue and Gurnet Road, among other Cook’s Corner area projects.

The town council set a Dec. 18 public hearing on the TIF, after pressing the town’s economic director and the town manager about its level of urgency on Monday.

Economic Development Director Linda Smith previously said the planning board met with a consulting firm in late October, approving a sketch plan for the estimated $1.9 million project.

On Monday, Smith presented the TIF application to the council that will be submitted to the Department of Economic and Community Development. It would cover 205 acres in Cook’s Corner, establishing a new TIF district to capture revenues in the Cook’s Corner area that could potentially help fund the connector road project or other categories of projects.

TIFs are a financing tool used to catalyze economic development activities, Smith said. They allow future property tax revenues from a development project to be dedicated and used to support economic development. TIFs can be used to attract new investment and jobs, and to accomplish significant infrastructure improvements.

That financing would also allow the town to shelter the new value of development from state valuation, Smith said, which affects the state education subsidy, county taxes and state revenue sharing subsidy.

Councilor Jane Millett asked if this is the normal process, adding that regarding the connector road, “I do feel the snowball is headed down the hill as I’ve said before.”

“I recognize that you want to get the funding in place so that we will look on it favorably,” she said, “so I’m thinking that’s the reason for going this way.”

Town Manager John Eldridge said the town first has to draw a line around the potential district, before anything else could move forward. Any other actions would still need council approval.

“The rest of it, in terms of the program and what is funded, is ultimately up to the council,” he said.

Millett and Councilor Sarah Brayman were concerned the TIF application was based on an outdated 1998 Cook’s Corner Master Plan, which Millett said is more ambitious than what the town can afford.

Councilor John Perreault asked why the TIF proposes to fund sewer lines, which would be turned over to the sewer district.

“This isn’t saying we’re building that road, but if we were to build that road and then have water and sewer, the expectation is the developer, in this case the town, develops those utilities and turns them over to the district,” Eldridge said.

Councilor John Perreault then asked if this public hearing could be pushed back, given the council meeting before Christmas is usually light and the council has scheduled three other public hearings for Dec. 18.

Eldridge said to bring the road project before the council for winter construction, the TIF application has to move fast. He added the hope is to be able to establish the TIF this year with the town having done a revaluation, in time for the town to capture new value as of March 31, 2018.

The council also unanimously agreed to set a public hearing for Dec. 18 on an amendment both to the Brunswick Landing TIF and the Brunswick Executive Airport TIF. The amendments would allow the town to use the TIF revenues to fund debt service on projects deemed eligible by the development programs.

dmoore@timesrecord.com